MaverickSawyer
Acolyte of the Probe
There also seems to be some sort of retrorocket system in the capsule base.
I think he was referring to the capsule landing. That was not nearly as jarring as I would have expected. Lots of canopy to slow descent.
Yes, the landing is very smooth compared to the "What happened?" - "Earth happened" landing of Soyuz. :rofl:
But that could also be caused by the rather low wind speeds during landing, wind is what makes Soyuz landings hard.
I think it would be very surreal to come back from ISS and step out into a grassy field in the middle of nowhere. It seems like psychological "returned to Earth" would be much stronger than a water landing, where you basically still can't touch the ground and probably won't be exposed to a natural area for some time (aside from the ocean).
Mannequin Skywalker :rofl:
Back in early 1960's, Russian when testing capsules for VOSTOK launched
fully suited dummies into orbit.
The Dummy had a sign in the face piece of the helmet announcing that this was a dummy and not some space alien!
Blue Origin quietly changed the design of its New Glenn rocket around the beginning of the year in order to hold to a 2020 first launch and increase the range of orbital missions the rocket can complete.
Although the company’s website still shows New Glenn with a second stage powered by a reignitable version of the BE-4 it is developing to power the main stage of both New Glenn and United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket, that configuration is now out of date.
A Blue Origin executive told SpaceNews the company is shelving development of a vacuum-optimized version of BE-4 and will instead use vacuum-optimized versions of flight-proven BE-3 engines for New Glenn’s second stage and optional third stage.
Jeff Bezos’ spaceflight company Blue Origin is inching ever closer to launching tourists into sub-orbital space. But before that happens, the venture wants to hire someone to make future trips to the vacuum a very high-class experience.
Blue Origin recently posted a job ad for an “Astronaut Experience Manager” on its website, a gig that’s unlike most you’ll find in the aerospace industry. Whoever is hired for the position will be less focused on the minutiae of engineering and more concentrated on creating a full, luxurious adventure for customers flying with the company.
You mean its going to be a surprise-to orbit...?
N.